Page 20 of Reine's Salvation

Chapter Nine

“Why?” Reine asked.

“It’s a nice place to go. The views up there are spectacular. I thought you’d like it. Plus,” she added after a moment of silence, “It’s my favorite spot.”

“Why?”

“It’s peaceful.” Mystique sighed. “It was the only place where I could get away from everything. It was a place where I could sit and think, and contemplate the world and pretend I had nothing to do with anyone else.”

“Why did you need to do that?”

Mystique shrugged. “We all have problems, Reine.”

Reine didn’t know what to say to her comment without openly prying. He breathed in deeply. There was no smell of bakeries, factories, or homes cooking meals. It was clean air, scented by nature. Birds chirped loudly, unaware of their presence as they climbed the hill. The house loomed in the distance, a reminder of the Academy, his mission, and the person he was now.

What kind of problems did she have? What had happened to her? Nothing too grave, he suspected. A person so positive, so full of life couldn’t have been through anything horrible. Yes, they all had problems, but he was sure hers had never been as bad as his. She wasn’t exiled from her home. She hadn’t lost the person she loved. She hadn’t fought in a Sin’s lair and lost. She didn’t have to live with the guilt every passing day. She hadn’t lost the person she’d once been. No, no matter her problems, Reine couldn’t think of anything as bad as what he’d been through.

“This way.” Mystique’s voice broke him out of his reverie.

“But the house is that way.” He pointed straight ahead.

“Yes, the front entrance, but we’re going to the back of the house grounds. It’s better. You’ll see. Trust me.”

She smiled and Reine held his breath. Whatever her problems were, he wanted to kiss them away. He wanted to feel her warm lips against his. His need grew greater with every step. The fact he hardly knew her, that he was there on a mission, or even that he was exiled from his home had stopped being important.

“When I was a kid, I’d come and hide there.” She pointed to a fallen tree, shaded by another bigger one. “I imagined I had gotten lost in the forest and fairies would come and find me and take me away.”

“Why?”

“Why would I do that?” She shrugged. “Like I said, Reine. We all have our problems.”

“But you said as a child. Why?” he persisted.

Mystique smiled mysteriously. “I don’t want to talk about it.” She continued walking. “In any case, as I grew older I grew bolder and started exploring the area. That’s how I found this path to the back of the house. This way.”

She abandoned the main road and began walking down a narrow trail through the forest. Her steps were confident and Reine knew she’d taken this walk a hundred times.

“If we had continued up the dirt road, we’d have made it to the front gate of the house. This is better.”

Their path became even narrower, and Reine had to hold on to some tree branches as he navigated a narrow ledge.

“Almost there.”

Suddenly they were out in an open field. The house stood behind them, a chain-link fence blocking their entrance.

“Come.” Mystique led him to a canopy of trees and sat under their shade. “Look.”

Reine followed her gaze. Sunshine sprawled lazily over a wide forest. The town was nowhere in sight. All that was visible to the eye were trees with their bright green leaves swaying in the breeze, as they greeted the day. The clouds rolled by lazily, the sky as blue as ever.

“Wow.”

“Right?” She laughed. “This is why I’d like coming here. I could sit and imagine I was far away from Lance, in another place and time.”

Reine settled next to her. He watched her pull out her water bottle from her backpack. He did the same. Droplets clung to the still slightly frozen container and he pressed it against his face, grateful for the coolness. Then, he drank heavily.

“Thank you for thinking of this.”

“You’re welcome. I’ve come up here enough times and I know you can get quite thirsty if you’re not prepared.”

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